Page 112 of Kiss an Angel

This time Daisy couldn’t help it. She began to giggle, and to her delight, Heather joined in.

When they arrived back at the lot, Heather went off to work with Sheba. Daisy unpacked the groceries she’d picked up and collected the produce treats she’d bought for the animals, grateful that Alex had never once protested these expensive additions to their grocery bill. Now that she knew he was only a poor college professor, she’d tried to be even more careful about their expenses, but she would cut back on their own food before she’d short the animals.

As had become her practice, she stopped first by the elephants to collect Tater, and he trailed her to the menagerie. Sinjun generally ignored the baby elephant, but this time he picked up his proud head and regarded his rival with haughty condescension.

She loves me best, you annoying infant, and don’t ever forget it.

Lollipop and Chester were tethered outside the tent, and Tater took his customary spot nearby, where a pile of clean hay awaited him. Daisy walked over to Sinjun and reached through the bars to scratch behind his ears. He found animal baby talk demeaning, so she didn’t coo to him as she did to the others.

She treasured her time with the animals. Sinjun had thrived under her care, and his burnt orange coat now shone with health. Sometimes, very early in the morning when everything was quiet and they were in a deserted area, Daisy crept from her cozy place curled up next to Alex’s side and let Sinjun out of his cage so the great cat could roam in freedom, if only for a little while.

They romped together in the dew-streaked grass, Sinjun keeping his claws carefully sheathed, Daisy maintaining a watchful eye for other early risers. Now, as she caressed him, a feeling of lethargy crept through her.

Sinjun stared de

eply into her eyes. Tell him.

I will.

Tell him.

Soon. I’ll tell him soon.

How long would it be before the new life growing inside her stirred? She couldn’t be more than six weeks pregnant, so it would be a while yet. Since she hadn’t missed a single dose of her birth control pills, she had attributed her symptoms to stress, but last week after she’d thrown up in a truck stop rest room, she’d finally bought a testing kit and discovered the truth.

She toyed with one of Sinjun’s ears. She knew she had to tell Alex soon, but she wasn’t quite ready. He’d be upset at first—she wouldn’t delude herself about that—but as soon as he adjusted, she was sure he’d be happy about it. He had to be happy, she told herself firmly. He loved her. He just hadn’t admitted it yet. And he was going to love their baby.

Even though he still hadn’t spoken the words she needed to hear aloud, she knew he had deep feelings for her. How else could she account for the tenderness she saw reflected in his eyes at the most unexpected times or the contentment that seemed to radiate from him when they were together? Sometimes it was hard for her to remember how seldom he had laughed when they’d first met.

She knew he liked being with her. Between the close quarters of the trailer and the long miles they traveled in the truck nearly every morning, they spent more time together than most couples, yet he still sought her out during the day to share a story he knew she would enjoy, grumble about a problem with a local official, or simply give her a quick, proprietary pat on the bottom. Their daily meal between the matinee and evening performances had become an important ritual for both of them. And at night, after the work was done, they made love with a passion and a freedom she hadn’t believed possible.

She could no longer imagine life without him, and as one day faded into another and he stopped mentioning their divorce, she knew he couldn’t imagine them separated either. That was the real reason she didn’t want to tell him about the baby. She wanted to give him just a little more time to get used to loving her.

The next morning all heck broke loose. Alex awakened not long after she’d slipped out of bed and discovered her in the deserted field behind the trailers playing with Sinjun. Two hours later he was still upset about it.

It was her morning to drive. They’d begun sharing driving duties when he’d realized she wasn’t going to strip the gears on the truck and that she enjoyed being behind the wheel.

“I should have driven this morning,” he said. “It would have kept my hands busy so I didn’t have this urge to wrap them around your neck.”

“Now, Alex relax.”

“Relax, my ass!”

She glared at him.

He glowered back. “Promise me you won’t let Sinjun out of his cage anymore.”

“We weren’t in a town, and there wasn’t a soul around, so will you stop worrying.”

“That doesn’t sound anything like a promise.”

She gazed out at the flat Indiana farmland that stretched on each side of the two-lane highway. “Have you noticed Jack and Jill are spending a lot of time together lately. Wouldn’t it be funny if they got married? Because of their names, I mean.”

“Stop weaseling around the subject and give me your word that you won’t keep putting yourself in danger.” He took a sip from the earthenware coffee mug he clutched in his hand.

“Do you really believe Sinjun would hurt me?”

“He’s not a house cat, regardless of the way you treat him. Wild animals are unpredictable. You aren’t to let him out of his cage again, do you understand me? Not under any circumstances.”

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